I mean, apart from the fact you live in Dubai or some other unAmerican country.
Yanks, the gubmint put out a bit of effort to make the dang things, but nobody uses them it seems. Why is that?
I bought a couple rolls just for the hell of it a couple weeks ago mostly for lunch money. I love the little critters! No more whipping out my wallet & fumbling through receipts, business cards, photos of my many, MANY mistresses, etc. And there are times when you just don’t want to take out the bank roll for the whole world to see. Just a quick dip into my pocketses and I’m giving golden Indians in exchange for something yummy. Panhandler giving you grief? Flip him some gold & make a dent in the cost of a night at The Palace. Stopping by the pub for a cold one? Just drop a couple Indian princesses on the bar.
The only drawback is that there is a benefit to attaching hassle to something which costs more than a dollar. If we allow ourselves to become conditioned that a dollar, once high end currency of the same ilk as the $20 or $50 or the mighty $100 is now chump change like a quarter, or even the measly penny, then the $5 coin is right on its heels and pretty soon we’re all “OK” with giving up entire paychecks for a cheeze burger.
I just almost never get them. Sure, occasionally I get them from the machines at the post office, but if I’m going to the bank for coins, I’m going for quarters to do laundry.
I wish they’d become more popular, but it’s not going to happen.
Well, since the only time I’ve ever seen one was when my mother got one (for the novelty value, I think), I’d guess that maybe the government didn’t make that many, and isn’t really bothering to put them into circulation very aggressively. 'Sides, what actually costs a dollar nowadays, with or without tax?
Personally, I think they’re fantastic. The US could go without a paper dollar.
I do like the Canadian monetary system, with loonies and toonies (sp?)… The only real downfall is your pockets tend to get heavy after a while… but start dropping those into an empty water jug, and after a while you’ll be freakin rich.
My only concern though… what happens when you’re sitting at the stage at a strip bar somewhere? It doesn’t make much sense to me to start flipping coins at the stripper, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to start popping fins for that.
I use them when I get them, but then again, being Japanese I’m used to high-value coins. (500 yen coins are widely in circulation. That’s about $4.50.)
My complaint with $1 coins are:
[ul]
[li]I never get them, except at the post office vending machine.[/li][li]Every time I use them, I have to explain to the cashier that it’s a $1 coin and not a quarter.[/li][li]The office vending machines don’t take them. (Yes I’m sure, I tried.)[/li][/ul]
I use them when I get them [from the university parking garage, and the yarn store down town], but really don’t end up with that many.
I wholeheartedly believe that if the government had wanted them to be successful, they needed to pull the dollar bill when they issued them. And that’s the only way they’re going to become successful - if the dollar bill fades from circulation and people are forced to change their habits.
I, too, love the dollar coins, and I make regular trips to the bank and buy a couple of rolls on a regular basis. I use them every chance I get, and that’s the only way they will catch on.
I think the government has given up on them, and I’ve even written to the president and the mint to encourage them to not give up. Maybe if more of us got up off our dead asses (yes you) and emailed the mint and the pres, they’d start to listen! (Yeah, I doubt it, too.)
When I get change I always ask for change in dollar coins rather than bills (but rarely get it).
Please, those of you who agree, let’s support the use of dollar coins before we lose them altogether.
Myth A: I can’t find them anywhere.
What? You never go to the bank? Every bank has them, you just have to ask.
Myth B: Nobody likes to get them.
I never get that response. Waitresses, cashiers, bartenders, all grab them with obvious delight. Then I’ll see them exchanging the Sackie for a paper George from their wallet. They’re taking the Sackie home.
Myth C: They wear out my pocket.
A dollar coin is lighter and less bulky than 4 quarters, and just big enough that I can reach into my pocket and pick one out by feel.
IF I ever finalize this book store deal, I’m thinking of handing out dollar coins as change. Depends on whether or not I can get the staff used to it. I, personally, like dollar coins, though I don’t like the way that the “golden” dollar turns brown after a while. I think this was poor design.
One of the local optical clinics around here hands out crisp new $2 bills to anyone who buys their glasses there.
My husband loves them. He works 24 hour shifts, and if he get hungry during the night his only choices are from the vending machines (these do take them)
We used to always get them (or $2 bills) as change on the ferries, but not anymore. It seems like they were abandoned without much of a trial.
If you buy something from one of the Metrocard machines in NY (or Boston too, although I moved away in 2001) you get your change (up to 6.00) in Suzies and Sackies. Mostly Sackies. I like 'em. I think Post Office machines use them too.
Outside of a big city, maybe they don’t have them as much. But you see plenty of them around here, maybe around 1 in 50 dollars.
I should probably keep my hands off this thread but you guys are thinking about this the wrong way. Sure, you can’t roll a coin up into a cone and perch it on your nose and tilt your head back on the stage (er…someone told me about this–I’ve never been to a ti…er, strip club), but you *can * hold it in your teeth…
I agree. But man, when they first came out, I was in college and using those at the bar meant I was the man. I even had someone tell me that I was just like a pirate.
I still went home alone though. Apparently scurvy’s not that cool anymore.
I hate change. It weighs down my pockets, is way too bulky, and I actively avoid getting it in any denomination.
Plus, I worked at Wal Mart as a cashier when the things were released so I have an active disdain for the things. For weeks, people would come through my line and either try to break a twenty without buying something (sorry, can’t open the drawer without a transaction) or buy a twenty-five cent package of gum and then ask for all the gold dollars in my till and get mad when I told them they had a five coin limit.
